The #EducationCountdown is officially launching on August 18, 2014 which will exactly be 500 days before the 2015 MDGs deadline is met. As part of the post 2015 development agenda, these 500 days are extremely critical. We can all be a part of this global campaign through active advocacy and bringing about a change around us. If we can synchronize our efforts, the impact of our little actions can be huge…

SIGN UP for the Thunderclap to kick-off the campaign and say that we can count on you to help drive progress to get every child into school and learning by the end of 2015. Sign up here.
CHANGE your profile or header photo on Twitter and Facebook by adding a Twibbon.
MAKE a Vine or Instagram video telling us why or how we can count on you to join the #EducationCountdown (be sure to include the hashtag). Check out this example by Chernor Bah.
WATCH the Google Hangout with A World at School hosted by the United Nations (UN) Foundation’s Girl Up 10-11AM EST discussing the importance of girls’ education in achieving MDG 2. RSVP & view here.
WATCH UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speak with Malala Yousafzai live at the UN from 11-12PM EST. Chernor Bah will be there to kick things off. Watch here and Tweet here.
STAY TUNED for the announcement of a celebrity addition to the UN Special Envoy’s Emergency Coalition for Global Education Action. We can definitely count on them!

Secure commitments from 50 countries to protect schools and education from attack by supporting, and then implementing, the Lucens Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict.
Establish a revolving fund of at least $100million to rapidly disburse funding for education in humanitarian crises.
Mobilise $177.2million to support education for over 400,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon and $100million for the Safe Schools Initiative in Nigeria.

TAKE ACTION:

SEND A LETTER to world leaders requesting support for the draft Lucens Guidelines to protect schools and education from attack. Action will be live August 18 at aworldatschool.org/educationcountdown
TWEET – On #WHD2014 join @aworldatschool and call for more #HumanitarianHeroes to ensure #SafeSchools http://bit.ly/Xb4Ldt #EducationCountdown Click to Tweet.
NOMINATE a young leader for the 2014 Youth Courage Awards to be announced at the Special UN Youth Assembly in September here.
DONATE to the Safe Schools Fund in Nigeria at safeschoolsinitiative.org

​Day 400 Stop Child Marriage

THE COUNT: 14 million girls under the age of 18 become brides each year and many are not in school.

Initial Campaign Targets:

Establish the first ever child marriage free zone in Pakistan.
Ensure the 8 child-marriage ‘hotspot’ countries where the legal age of marriage is under 18, adopt and enforce the legal age of marriage in accordance with international law, with no exceptions. Further ensure that married, pregnant girls or mothers are not prohibited from attending school.
Empower more young people to create, join and lead community dialogues and support effective programmes addressing child marriage and supporting married girls which can be taken to scale to ensure that all girls have access to education and other opportunities.

​Day 300End discrimination against girls

THE COUNT: 16.8 million girls are out of school in sub-Saharan Africa.

Day 200Abolish child labour

THE COUNT: 15 million children are working and not in school.

Day 100Deliver teachers and learning opportunities for every child

THE COUNT: 2.1 million more teachers needed. 250 million children are not learning.

Day 0
End of 2015: more children in school and learning

THE COUNT: Opportunity for 58 Million children. Zero exclusion from education.